VB The Wise: That Damned Sam Adams!

Aug 15, 2018

As a teetotaler, I’m normally supportive of someone who announces he’s giving up beer. But when it comes to Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone, not so fast. Upon hearing that Jim Koch, the founder of Samuel Adams, had dined with POTUS Trump (he was part of a larger group of business owners talking broader business policy in the United States), Curtatone tweeted out, “I will never drink a Sam Adams again.”

So I get why people say they won’t ever watch a Kevin Spacey movie again, and I get why Turkey is talking about boycotting U.S. electronics, but I don’t get this. I’ve said I don’t drink alcohol, but I do drink tea – iced or hot. But guess what, I have no idea whether or not the CEO of Diet Snapple has ever dined with POTUS Trump. I don’t know whether Mr. Harney (of Harney and Sons Tea) was a big POTUS Obama fan or not. And back in the day I never bothered to check if the head of Moxie was a big W lover. Why do I not know that? Because who cares? I drink my beverages because they are tasty, not because I like the people that the maker of that beverage associates with. In Curtatone’s case, so what beer will he be consuming in place of Sam Adams? Will he be researching that company’s political contributions? When does this stuff end? I understand why some people have a litmus test for a Supreme Court justice, but no one need have a litmus test for his relaxing beverage. Silly Mayor, silly.